Portable Band Saws

A

Absinthe

Well-Known Member
Now that I am shopping for these things I notice that there are 2 different kinds. One is "deep cut" or somewhere between 4 and 5 inches. And the latest I am finding are in the 2" range. Is there any reason to need something bigger than the 2" ones?
 
Deep Cut means the cut window is deeper to allow you to cut bigger stuff. The deeper the better for us, because you’ll be running bar stock through at an angle and the deeper you can feed it before hitting the frame of the saw, the better.

Sure, you can cut a 2” piece in half with a 2” cut window, but good luck with diagonal cuts.
 
blades- the less teeth the faster it cuts. the more teeth the more accurate and smooth it will cut and the better you can cut curves.

A 14 tpi to 18 tpi is the sweet spot.
 
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Okay, just ordered the Bosch GCB10-5 and it comes with an 18tpi blade. It also has free returns in case I hate it :)
 
Taz575 said:
24 TPI is better for 1/16" thick steel or thinner. 14-18 for most 3/32" thick steel or thicker. You can build a home made stand fairly inexpensively for them, too.
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cool, I got 3/32 and 1/8 80crv2 coming, and I have 1/16 brass, 1/8 brass, and 1/8 nickel silver. Beyond that, I have no idea :)
 
I assumed I can build a home made stand. It also comes with a hook, so it is possible I can just hang it on a ladder and make a cut. Not sure if that is the intension, but it is in the picture :)

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SWAG Offroad has a lot of options if you aren't planning to build your own stand. The SWAG Portable Table is what I used for a long time. It's a piece of aluminum plate with the ends rolled so that you can chuck it up in your bench vise when you want to use the saw and take it down when you don't need it. It's like $80 and worth every penny. They have tables that get fancy if you are so inclined, or want to make a more permanent fixture out of your portaband.

Some makers have simply clamped the portaband handle in the bench vise. YMMV

Whatever you do, you want a fairly rigid setup because you will have to lean into it a bit a lot of times when making cuts. A grease stick for lubing the saw blade will have it cutting faster and lasting longer, and is much cleaner than squirting oil on the blade.
 
See what happens when it gets here tomorrow. If I can view mount it I will, otherwise I will go for a clamp able rig. I have been watching a bunch of videos on making the tables and stands.
 
Just a quick tip on TPI selection: You typically want about 3 teeth in the material at any given time. Otherwise you risk just shearing the teeth right off if you feed too aggressively.
 
You're likely not going to find a metal cutting bandsaw blade sold with more than 24TPI. It will certainly do the job, but again, if you push too hard, you'll start breaking teeth off.
Because of how thin 1/16" stock is, the 24TPI will still want to cut pretty aggressively, so just take it slow. Let the saw do the work and you should be ok.
 
For what it's worth, my go to blade is a 14/18 variable TPI blade. I'm using a Lenox Wolfband for those. Right now, I have a 24 TPI blade (Lenox, maybe?) In the saw because I was working with 1/8" stainless steel.

If you're using your bandsaw in a good stand with a big table, you can get away with cutting really thin stock with a really coarse blade. You have to take a lot more care to not "force feed" the blade. The blade wants to take a certain depth of cut per tooth. That is NOT the depth of the gullet. The gullet is that depth to make room for the swarf.

A lot of fancy industrial vertical saws have a sliding table (or sliding saw head like a Marvel Saw) that you can set a particular feed rate or feed pressure to maximize blade life, surface finish, etc.

Like the hydraulic damper on a horizontal bandsaw.
 
Drew Riley said:
You're likely not going to find a metal cutting bandsaw blade sold with more than 24TPI. It will certainly do the job, but again, if you push too hard, you'll start breaking teeth off.
Because of how thin 1/16" stock is, the 24TPI will still want to cut pretty aggressively, so just take it slow. Let the saw do the work and you should be ok.
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Sorry I was being facetious, and I forgot to include the smiley thing. :) here is an extra one :)
 
52 Ford said:
For what it's worth, my go to blade is a 14/18 variable TPI blade. I'm using a Lenox Wolfband for those. Right now, I have a 24 TPI blade (Lenox, maybe?) In the saw because I was working with 1/8" stainless steel.

If you're using your bandsaw in a good stand with a big table, you can get away with cutting really thin stock with a really coarse blade. You have to take a lot more care to not "force feed" the blade. The blade wants to take a certain depth of cut per tooth. That is NOT the depth of the gullet. The gullet is that depth to make room for the swarf.

A lot of fancy industrial vertical saws have a sliding table (or sliding saw head like a Marvel Saw) that you can set a particular feed rate or feed pressure to maximize blade life, surface finish, etc.

Like the hydraulic damper on a horizontal bandsaw.
Click to expand...
I'll just be taking it slowly until I get the feel for it.
 
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